THE harness racing season may be coming to an end but that has not stopped a bumper number of trainers and horses from making the trip to Dubbo this weekend.
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The local club will bring the season to an end with a bumper nine-race meeting on Sunday afternoon with the highlight being the Dubbo/Parkes Dooza Horse of Steel Series Final.
Run all year at the Dubbo and Parkes tracks, the series rewards local trainers and horses by giving points each time they run at those two tracks and the top point scorers will be in action on Sunday.
The prize awaiting the winner is a brand new Dooza Speed sulky valued at $7000
"Over 700-odd horses have raced at the tracks and probably 10 of the best 15 will be in the final, there's been a couple of casulaties along the way," Dubbo Harness Racing Club's Lester Hoy said.
"There's some from Dubbo, Parkes, Forbes and four from Bathurst in the final and probably the favourite would be The Kissing Bandit."
The Kissing Bandit spent most of his career being trained by Dubbo's Mick Pay but has made the move to the Steve Turnbull stable recently and comes into the final fresh from racing at Menangle, where he picked up a win on August 8.
Local fan favourite Sunnybrae will be the lone Dubbo horse in action with the six-year-old gelding rumoured to be making his final appearance on the track.
The Lex Bramble-trained trotter has made 71 starts but has never won a race and Bramble will be hoping for a dream finish.
"It's certainly one worth winning and a lot of trainers have told me they've set horses for this race when they discovered halfway through the season they were a chance of qualifying," Hoy said.
"A lot of trainers have told me they think it's one of the better series here and it's one of three big promotions we've got."
The Red Ochre event for mares and the Dooza Golden Gig series are the other two feature events at club and both of those were a success in 2015 in what Hoydesribed as a "terrific" season.
"This is the end of our season but if you saw the nominations you'd think it was the start of the season,"he said.
"We've got people coming from everywhere and will have nine races and it's been a terrific season for us."
Eglinton trainer Nathan Hurst will have two members of his stable in action in the final with Hurst set to drive Flight Express while Mat Rue will be in the gig for Kyalla Luke.
The Dooza Horse of Steel Final is the seventh race on the card, run at 4.04pm.
The action begins at Dubbo Showground Paceway with the first at 12.20pm while the last sets off at 5.17pm.